Interest in Hong Kong’s Kowloon East commercial district continues to mount, as both users and investors seek alternatives to the city’s main business hub in Central district, where office rents and prices are soaring.

Switzerland-based private-equity firm Partners Group has invested in a warehouse building in Kowloon East, according to a statement Thursday. The warehouse is earmarked for conversion into an office building.

The Hong Kong government is trying to develop the gritty industrial area of Kowloon East, close to the city’s previous international airport, into an alternative commercial district because available office space in Central has remained stagnant, while rents have soared to among the highest in the world. Some banks have already been moving their support functions to Kowloon East.

Partners Group, a private markets investor which manages more than 28 billion euros globally, invests directly in private companies as well as in private-equity funds.